Nigeria crashed out of the 33 rd Africa Cup of Nations after an unfortunate 1-0 loss at Roumde Adjia stadium Garoua, to Tunisia on Sunday. One of the major actors on the night was winger Simon Moses, whose exploits in the group stages made him a target for opposing defenders.

Indeed he received most of the attention from the Tunisians that he could hardly do any of those things he used to do in previous matches. Simon was clipped and the Super Eagles suffered.

He spoke with Sports Vanguard at Hotel Le Ribadou in Garoua yesterday. “Football is team work. I am used to it. What I used to do for my club is what I also do for the national team, even though they are two different entities,” the Nantes forward answered to a question on what he felt he could have done to save the team. “We all worked hard, it was only unfortunate that things didn’t go our way.”

He was full of apologies to Nigerians, Moses said, on the flip side, ”it is good because it is an experience I will learn a lot from. Same for the team. It happened so that everyone can learn from his mistakes and work on how to correct them.”

He confessed he was in tears, like most of his other colleagues because he couldn’t swallow the loss. “I thought about the Nigerian fans, I thought about my family and thought about myself and I said, this was not what we thought to do. We did not prepare for this. We wanted to go forward, but it did not turn out that way. The entire scenario was dampening.“

The nimble-footed winger said the Eagles were determined to compensate Nigerians with the 2022 FIFA World Cup ticket.

“Nigerians should be hopeful because our hope is to go to the World Cup. That is the only thing that can gladden their hearts and lift their spirits. I believe we will do everything within our powers to be at the World Cup.